Cuts could jeopardise local Government services, county council warns

At a meeting of the full council on Wednesday (January 22), members of the authority unanimously endorsed a motion claiming further cutbacks could damage Shire Hall’s ability to deliver key services.

The motion tabled by two Labour councillors, Steve Lydon and party leader Lesley Williams, raised concerns about chancellor George Osborne’s intention to cut a further 10 per cent from the department for communities and local government’s budget as detailed in the Government’s spending review for 2013.

GCC is already two years into a four-year programme to make £114 million of ‘efficiency savings’ and councillors believe that more cuts could put the future of local services on the line.

By the end of the current Parliament local Government budgets will have been slashed by 33 per cent, while Whitehall departments will have faced smaller average reductions of around 12 per cent.

During the meeting on Wednesday, councillors from all parties called for local Government to be shielded from further cuts and savings to be made elsewhere.

Tory Cllr Ray Theodolou, said: “Local authorities have done their bit and other parts of Government must see that they too need to contribute.”